Earlier this year, we named the most disappointing Xbox exclusives ever. Now, it is PlayStation’s turn.
Releasing their first console to compete with the N64 and Sega Saturn, Sony has been a forefather and trendsetter in gaming since 1994. With such a long history and a diverse audience, it’s understandable that they have produced some pretty terrible games over the years. Often, a game isn’t terrible because it is poorly made or a bad seller; rather, it often falls victim to marketing and QA failures that lead to disappointment. Without further ado, here are the most disappointing PlayStation exclusives ever…
1. Shadow of the Beast
Starting much earlier than one might expect, the 1998 platform game Shadow of the Beast still boasts a dedicated fanbase and may be one of the most polarising games of the last 30 years. The original game offered fun platforming that exuded creativity, provided complete enjoyment, and featured some of the best platforming action available at the time. So why was the 2016 remake so terrible? It serves as a great example of a game that has long since surpassed its expected lifespan. Shadow of the Beast (2016) entered a market filled with competition from platform classics like Limbo and Super Meat Boy, unlike when the original launched in 1998.
The remake lacked the charm of the original. While it wasn’t a total write-off and offered some enjoyment through the combat system, it suffered from mechanical shallowness, a menial narrative, and an overall game length that ultimately proved to be the final nail in the coffin. As a result, the game lost any fanbase it could have built and sold far fewer copies than expected. Even including the original as an unlockable extra couldn’t save this entry from eternal oblivion.
2. Lair
When you have to give reviewers a ‘guide’ on how to play your game, something has gone very wrong. That is exactly what happened with Lair. Lair was a highly-anticipated game which allowed you to pilot a dragon throughout epic battles spanning a number of locales.
The game’s main draw was to let the PS architecture utilize the six-axis controller in its infancy. However, once the game released, it quickly became apparent that it was nothing more than a bloated demo, featuring a terrible story, broken motion controls, and low-res graphics in some areas. This was understandably disappointing, especially coming from the studio that brought us the fan-favorite Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.
3. The Order: 1886
Of course, The Order: 1886 has to be in an article about disappointing PlayStation exclusives. With its ridiculously short campaign and lack-luster gameplay, it quickly became a poster-boy for the topic.
Santa Monica Studios and Ready At Dawn, known for classics like God of War and the Jak and Daxter spin-off Daxter, developed the game together. AAA success should have been guaranteed; however, the alternate-history steampunk werewolf-hunting chaos turned out to be just another by-the-numbers third-person cover shooter that offered nothing new to the genre. The campaign length of less than 15 hours and a predictable narrative ensured that this particular undead hunter was always destined for a shallow grave.
4. Knack
In an effort to return to their family-friendly roots with characters like Spyro and Crash, Sony chose to reinvent itself by introducing a new mascot-like character: Knack. They aimed to convey to the audience that they understood their roots and wanted to attract more casual players with a cute, relatable character. However, the game they delivered was nothing like what they advertised.
While a platform game should always be simple and easy to access—think Mario—Knack unfortunately became too accessible. It featured some great ideas but never developed them into a proof-of-life concept. Instead, it delivered a forgettable, hand-holding experience that is better left behind in favor of its fantastic sequel. Never mind, Sony: not every game can be a winner…
5. Twisted Metal III
Twisted Metal’s storied history throughout PlayStation’s lifetime is well documented, with its releases generally receiving praise from critics, gamers, or both. However, the third installment did not follow this trend. It featured poorly designed stages, while its predecessors and successors provided genuinely inventive environments for racing.
Add the terrible physics that marred the game’s combat system throughout, and you guarantee a flop on your hands. Twisted Metal III wouldn’t have received such a poor reception if it hadn’t followed the absolutely fantastic first and second installments. Unfortunately, not even Rob Zombie’s presence on the soundtrack could save this one from the scrapheap.
6. Basement Crawl
“Generally unfavorable”, as Wikipedia puts it, delicately states that this is possibly the most poorly reviewed game ever, to the point where the developer offered a free remake to anyone who bought the first one. Thankfully, no remake is releasing anytime soon, so we have found mercy in this instance. Basement Crawl is the most uninventive, creatively bankrupt waste of time you will ever have the misfortune to play, but it shouldn’t have been.
Offering a four-player hot-seat mode and eight-player online play, Basement Crawl aimed to be an atmospheric maze-based action game from Bloober Team, who would later develop the wonderful Layers of Fear and the polarizing Blair Witch games. It intended to provide a skill-based and unique take on the puzzle genre; however, the end result delivered a largely forgettable experience that relied too heavily on camera usage. Even the art style couldn’t redeem this promising puzzler.
7. No Man’s Sky
No list of disappointing games would be complete without No Man’s Sky. With massive expectations for the game to move mountains and deliver where other open-world space sims have failed, the writing was on the wall from the moment it was announced. No Man’s Sky advertised itself as the best space sim ever created.
Almost Molyneuxesque, Sean Murray, the head of the creative team behind Hello Games’ polarizing mainstream debut, promised a no-holds-barred space sim that would deliver totally randomized planets and creatures using an unprecedented procedural generation system. Of course, this turned out to be wholly untrue, and the results were, let’s say, interesting at best and nightmarish at worst. The gameplay felt muddy and choppy throughout most playthroughs, and hundreds of aspects from the trailers and gameplay demonstrations did not appear in the final product.
Since its original release, the game has received thousands of tiny updates and a number of free gameplay enhancements that introduce co-op play, larger ships, and playgrounds, resulting in an overall better experience. However, we can never forget that for many months, the name No Man’s Sky became synonymous with over-hype and under-delivery.
8. Killzone: Shadow Fall
PlayStation’s answer to Halo, Killzone has always been an ambitious project that aimed to push the envelope since its first iteration at the launch of the PlayStation 3. When the series announced its move to the PlayStation 4, many saw it as a strategic effort to capitalize on the polarizing Halo installments, hoping to attract stragglers from that series to Killzone. It’s clear that Shadow Fall showcased what the platform could achieve and avoided the issues that plagued the launch of Killzone 2.
Upon launch, Shadow Fall received praise from many outlets for its visuals, but this praise stemmed more from the lack of competition in the market than from innovation and creativity in the FPS genre at the time. Players quickly proved this to be the case as soon as the game landed in their hands. While critics praised the game, players did not. They lambasted it for having a poor campaign, shoddy AI, and unsatisfying combat mechanics. This mainly resulted from the poorly programmed AI, which made Lemmings characters seem like they had Bear Grylls-level survival instincts. Shortly after the release, the studio behind Shadow Fall was reassigned to Horizon Zero Dawn, and the rest— as they say— is history.
9. LittleBigPlanet 3
Upon launch, the LittleBigPlanet series delivered a cute and creative mascot, aiming to replace the likes of Crash and Spyro as the flagship series for the PS3, which it successfully did with no resistance. So why is LittleBigPlanet 3 on this list?
The series offered extensive creation toolsets that allowed players to create wonderful and weird levels for others to enjoy. So why is LittleBigPlanet 3 on this list?
Expectation is the reason LittleBigPlanet 3 appears on this list. The series had built up significant anticipation, but the game unfortunately failed to live up to or exceed that promise.
LittleBigPlanet 3 was not a terrible game by any stretch, but it did not reach the same heights or audience as its predecessors. Critics pointed out that it felt unfinished and derided it for being creatively dry compared to the expectations. LittleBigPlanet 3 failed to capture our imagination, and for us, the love affair with Sackboy was over.
10. Days Gone
Unveiled at E3 2016 (rest in peace), Days Gone marks Bend Studio’s first foray into open-world games since its original IP, Syphon Filter. The game follows a gruff and disheveled biker named Deacon St. John as he and a group of other survivors attempt to fight back against a rising zombie apocalypse. On paper, Days Gone seems perfect. In practice, however, the experience feels as dry and empty as one of Deacon St. John’s one-liners.
As a tale of despair and desperation, the story unfolds through St. John, but he fails to elicit any genuine emotional responses from us as players, completely losing the game’s atmosphere before it even begins. It’s incredibly difficult to empathize with a character when you have no emotional investment in the main character. Days Gone’s strengths lie in its gameplay loop and the ever-changing weather system. Unfortunately, the environment of Days Gone is much more interesting than any of the characters included.
Days Gone is undoubtedly a fun experience. But like many on this list, it just didn’t meet expectations. It suffered, among other things, from repetitive gameplay and game-breaking bugs. The developer’s insistence that they did nothing makes the prospect of a sequel seem like pie-in-the-sky. This is unfortunate because the Days Gone universe is ripe for the picking by the right team.
